The TPLO (Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy) surgery is one of the most popular orthopedic surgeries performed on dogs who have torn their cranial cruciate ligament, also commonly referred to as a dog’s torn ACL.

Developed by Dr. Barclay Slocum in the late 90’s, the TPLO surgery was originally considered a radical procedure for addressing canine ACL injuries. Now in existence for over 30 years, the surgery has proven itself time and time again, to be an extremely effective long-term solution for addressing this injury in dogs, providing quicker recovery and superior long-term results.

The philosophy behind the TPLO surgery is to completely change the dynamics of the dog’s knee so that the torn ligament becomes irrelevant to the stability of the knee itself. This is different from the extra capsular repair done in the preceding decades.

New techniques similar to TPLO have been developed now like CBLO, TTA.

Is TPLO better than other techniques for the cranial cruciate ligament injury in dogs?

If your dog is larger, younger and active the answer is yes .  The data has not always been conclusive about this, however.  In the last few years, the research data is starting to confirm what surgeons have known all along:  TPLO dogs return to function faster, they develop less joint arthritis, and they tend to return to better functional levels than is seen with other extracapsular techniques.  Although we can’t say for certain, it appears that these positive results also apply to other similar techniques such as TTA, CWO, and TTO, CBLO.        

TPLO And CBLO Surgery in Edmonton

We are happy to offer both at our animal hospital in Edmonton. Please feel to reach to one of our team members for more details. Ideally provide your animals weight and age and knee X rays before making inquiries.

More on this procedure can be read here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibial-plateau-leveling_osteotomy